Pat Howard heaped praise on Tom Varndell after Leicester's win over Wasps.
A delighted Pat Howard labelled Tom Varndell 'special' after the winger's hat-trick helped Leicester Tigers beat Wasps 20-19 at Welford Road.
Three tries in 30 minutes against the champions confirmed Varndell's rapidly-increasing stock in top class rugby, and it proved to be enough for the Tigers to leapfrog Wasps into second place in the Premiership.
A try on the speedster's international debut has been backed up by several stunning performances for the England Sevens team, and Howard tipped his young starlet to conquer the world.
"As a finisher he is pretty special and I still think there's a lot more to come," said the Australian.
"If the question is 'Is he the best finisher in the country?' then I think he is.
"His feet are very good and he breaks tackles to score tries. Can he play in Tests and do what he did today? I think he will.
"He has some attributes the England selectors have to consider."
Defeat for Wasps means they have now lost two on the bounce - not the trademark end-of-season form that has seen them win three Premiership titles on the bounce.
Director of rugby Ian McGeechan believes the setback is only temporary though, and he too felt Varndell was the major difference in the contest.
"We controlled the majority of the game and I thought we played very well apart from the tries," said the Wasps boss.
"I thought some of them were soft. It's hugely disappointing to play so well in so many areas and not win but it's not that we are playing badly.
"What we have to do is look at our finishing. I would be more concerned if we were not playing well.
"I was really pleased with the way we played in the second half and the longer the game went on the more confident I was that we would win it.
"Varndell's finishing was the difference between the teams. We blew three chances that he would have taken."
